Business

  –as  Finance Minister urges ‘Buyer Beware’ of shady vendors   by Gary Eleazar The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has begun moving against businesses targeting unsuspecting consumers, by applying the 14 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on items which are zero-rated or exempt. This was confirmed by Tax Chief, Godfrey Statia, who on Thursday (March 2, 2017), met with ...

Trevor Thomas has been fired from the post of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health, in keeping with a recommendation by a Commission of Inquiry into procurement practices at that public service entity. Minister of State, Joseph Harmon said Thomas was relieved of his duties with effect from March 1, 2017. “His service as Permanent Secretary was terminated…He ...

The Guyana government is strapped for cash and would be introducing a number of austerity measures including recycling envelopes, while at the same time hoping that the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) and housing projects will kick-start the economy. “It means that you have to be a little more careful in how you spend your money so that it lasts. ...

by Gary Eleazar The Guyana Government has decided it will not be removing the application of the 14 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on private school fees, saying the anticipated revenue is critical to meet the funding for the $38B shortfall it has for its 2017 expenditure programme (2017 $250B Budget). This was disclosed by Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, ...

General Secretary of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Oscar Clarke has rubbished claims by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo that earnings from parking meters are helping to finance that political party. “The PNC is not benefiting in any way financially or otherwise from this project,” he told Demerara Waves Online News. The PNCR General Secretary is an elected Councillor of ...

Businessman Roshan Khan, on Tuesday (February 28) spearheaded a picketing exercise, in protest of the new Value Added Tax (VAT) regime imposed recently, by the coalition A Partnership for National Unity, Alliance for Change (APNU-AFC) Government, outside of the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) Camp Street Headquarters and called on the administration to immediately revert to the status quo that had ...

…Minister promises full liberalization by May by Gary Eleazar   Minister with responsibility for Telecommunications in Guyana, Catherine Hughes, promises that the sector will be fully liberalized by the end of May, complete with the accompanying regulations and the establishment of the Telecommunications Agency. Hughes was at the time responding to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Telephone and ...

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday accused the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)- the single largest party in the governing coalition- of sticking with the controversial parking meter deal to fund its operations. “This is a corrupt deal and it leads all the way to Congress Place. This has very little to do with the City Council officials; it has ...

by Gary Eleazar The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) Monday (February 27, 2017) rolled out its fixed Long Term Evolution (LTE) ‘lightening fast’  internet service on the Essequibo Coast—four months ahead of schedule—with a promise to revolutionize the way business is conducted between Charity and Supenaam. GTT’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Justin Nedd, in launching the high speed internet access ...

A pharmacist and his wife, both employees of the West Demerara Hospital, are in the custody of the Guyana Police Force in connection with alleged fraud,  government said in a statement. Authorities said the two were assisting police with investigations into a suspected drug procurement and supply fraud. The probe stemmed from a fact-finding mission that was dispatched by Public Health ...